ISC West Is Two Months Away

• By Ralph C. Jensen
• Feb 01, 2023

The annual “vacation” to Las Vegas is less than two months away. I anticipate it will be an amazing show, and furthermore, I expect the show hall to be teeming with interested security professionals.

Hikvision and Dahua will not be exhibiting this year, or at any other SIA sponsored event.

About two years ago, SIA adopted a code of ethics that enforces ethical behavior. It should be noted that ASIS welcomed Hikvision to GSX 2022. Currently, neither Dahua nor Hikvision are SIA members. Nearly two years ago, Dahua was expelled from SIA, and a month later Hikvision quit. They also were under review over ethics code violations.

So, what is the ethics code? SIA adopted nine principles in 2020 to promote the highest standards of conduct among its members. The principles were more than recommendations as all new and renewing members are required to adopt the standard as a condition of membership and affirm that they will abide by the principles. Violators would be subject to punitive action.

Actions taken by SIA leadership range from a written warning to suspension of membership to expulsion from the association.

SIA membership and their employees must abide by these nine principles. Though not intended to be exhaustive, they are written broadly to be applied in a variety of contexts:

• Act with honesty, integrity and transparency, eschewing fraudulent or misleading business practices and avoiding conflicts of interest.
• Provide accurate branding, use and cost information in marketing materials, advertisements and interactions with customers and potential customers.
• Conduct business with appropriate consideration of sustainability and the environmental impact of products and services.
• Oppose prejudice, harassment and abuse in the workplace as well as uses of their solutions that assist or abet prejudice, harassment or abuse.
• Work with law enforcement in an appropriate manner that enhances public safety while respecting the reasonable expectations of privacy held by customers and individuals whose images or information are captured by security devices.
• Protect all sensitive personal information that they acquire in accordance with industry best practices.
• Monitor and mitigate relevant risks as much as reasonably possible, including by securing and hardening networked solutions against cyber threats in accordance with industry best practices.
• Ensure that their products, services and solutions are not designed or manufactured in such a manner as to surreptitiously transmit information to third parties for purposes outside the normal and expected scope of security and business operations.
• Refuse to knowingly design, manufacture, sell or deploy products, services or solutions that have been finally determined by any supranational, national, federal, state or local governmental authority or any self-regulatory entity, whether foreign or domestic, having competent jurisdiction over the applicable member organization to support the infliction of human rights abuses, the restriction of civil liberties, and/or the implementation of other oppressive measures.

It is safe to say that SIA’s ISC West trade show is a critical, must-attend event. The size of the trade show attracts buyers from North America but also security professionals and buyers outside North America.

Not being able to exhibit at ISC West does not mean that sales staff from Dahua or Hikvision will not attend. Chances are, they will. Not attending will not break either company’s business, but it does signal that there are barriers and that there are ongoing challenging international relationships with the Chinese Communist Party.

SIA further enhances their message by stating that security industry professionals serve not only their customers, but also society as a whole. They further state that being so entrusted is a privilege, and industry professionals bear a responsibility to both customers and all people who encounter their systems, and they must always act with the utmost professionalism, care, respect and good faith.